ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ruling party gained control of the Parliament’s upper house in a secret ballot on Saturday, according to Reuters quoting local media.
The Senate result is likely to revive the political fortunes of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has clashed with the judiciary since the Supreme Court ended his premiership in July by disqualifying him from office over undeclared assets.
“PMLN now the single largest party in Senate as well, Masha’Allah,” tweeted Sharif’s daughter and presumed heir, Maryam Nawaz Sharif.
Candidates backed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won 15 of the 52 seats up for grabs, overtaking Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) as the biggest group in the upper house, according to Geo TV channel and other media. PPP candidates won 12 seats.
Working with allied parties in the Senate, PML-N should have de facto control of the 104-seat chamber.
Polling for the Senate elections started at 9 a.m. on Saturday, across all four provincial assemblies and the national assembly. One hundred and thirty-one candidates across the country contested 52 Senate seats from the four provinces, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the federal capital.
Rangers and Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel were deployed outside the assemblies and Parliament to maintain order.
A total of 20 candidates battled for 12 seats from Punjab, 33 contenders for 12 seats from Sindh, 26 contested for 11 seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 25 candidates for 11 seats from Balochistan, 24 contenders for four seats from FATA and five candidates for two seats from Islamabad.
At the National Assembly (NA) in Islamabad, Speaker NA Sardar Ayaz Sadiq was the first to cast his vote, while in Punjab, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Malik Muhammad Iqbal Channar was the first one to cast his vote, followed by Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah. In Sindh, PPP MPA Rubina Qaimkhani was the first to cast a vote, followed by former Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah.
The four provincial assemblies vote for their respective representatives, while senators in FATA are elected by MNAs from the tribal areas. In the federal capital senators are elected by NA members.
Senate polls are held every three years when half of the senators complete their six-year term, out of a 104-member house. The Senate comprises 66 general seats, 17 reserved for women, 17 for technocrats and four for non-Muslims.
Sindh & Punjab: Of the 12 seats, seven are general seats with two women seats, two technocrats and one non-Muslim seat.
KP & Balochistan: Of 11 seats, two are reserved for women, two for technocrats and seven general.
On Friday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued a code of conduct according to which no one would be allowed to carry mobile phones to the polling stations and assembly members would be allowed inside only upon producing their secretariat cards.
MNAs and MPAs were also urged to ensure the secrecy of their votes. According to ECP, the punishment for violating the code of conduct includes a fine of up to Rs100,000 ($904) and/or a jail term anywhere between six months and two years.
Addressing the media before entering Parliament, State Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb said: “Never in the history of any country has an elected premier been removed on the basis of an Iqama (foreign work permit). Despite no proof of corruption, he was still removed,” she said, adding that a sea of people awaits to welcome deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“Nawaz will come out as the winner in today’s elections,” she said.
Talking to the media outside the National Assembly, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Shafqat Mahmood said PTI chief Imran Khan will not be coming to the assembly today as he has other commitments.
Pakistan’s ruling party takes lead in Senate poll: Media
Pakistan’s ruling party takes lead in Senate poll: Media
Afghan Americans fearful after Trump order halts refugee program
- Almost 200 family members of active-duty US military personnel approved for refugee resettlement in the US will be pulled off flights between now and April
- They are among nearly 1,560 Afghan refugees who will be taken off flight manifests, according to VanDiver and the official
WASHINGTON: An executive order by US President Donald Trump to suspend refugee admissions has magnified the fears of one Afghan American soldier who has long been worried about the fate of his sister in Kabul.
The soldier is afraid his sister could be forced to marry a Taliban fighter or targeted by a for-ransom kidnapping before she and her husband could fly out of Afghanistan and resettle as refugees in the US
“I’m just thinking about this all day. I can’t even do my job properly because this is mentally impacting me,” the soldier with the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division told Reuters on Tuesday. He spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Almost 200 family members of active-duty US military personnel approved for refugee resettlement in the US will be pulled off flights between now and April under Trump’s order signed on Monday, according to Shawn VanDiver, head of the #AfghanEvac coalition of veterans and advocacy groups, and a US official familiar with the issue.
They are among nearly 1,560 Afghan refugees who will be taken off flight manifests, according to VanDiver and the official.
They said the group includes unaccompanied children and Afghans at risk of Taliban retaliation because they fought for the US-backed government that fled as the last US troops withdrew from the country in August 2021 after two decades of war.
The UN mission in Afghanistan says the Taliban have killed, tortured and arbitrarily detained former officials and troops. It reported in October that between July and September, there were at least 24 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention, 10 of torture and ill-treatment and at least five former soldiers had been killed.
The Taliban instituted a general amnesty for officials and troops of the former US-backed government and deny accusations of any retaliation. A spokesman for the Taliban-backed government did not immediately respond to questions about fears of retribution against those families awaiting relocation.
A UN report in May said that while the Taliban have banned forced marriages, a UN special rapporteur on human rights remained concerned about allegations that Taliban fighters have continued the practice “without legal consequences.”
A crackdown on immigration was a major promise of Trump’s victorious 2024 election campaign, leaving the fate of US refugee programs up in the air.
His executive order, signed hours after he was sworn for a second term, said he was suspending refugee admissions until programs “align with the interests of the United States” because the country cannot absorb large numbers of migrants without compromising “resources available to Americans.”
DESTINY UNCLEAR
“It’s not good news. Not for my family, my wife, for all of the Afghans that helped us with the mission. They put their lives in danger. Now they will be left alone, and their destiny is not clear,” said Fazel Roufi, an Afghan American former 82nd Airborne Division soldier.
Roufi, a former Afghan army officer, came to the US on a student visa, obtained citizenship and joined the US Army. He witnessed the chaotic Kabul airport pullout as an adviser and translator for the commanding US general, and he himself helped to rescue Americans, US embassy staff and others.
His wife, recently flown by the State Department to Doha for refugee visa processing, now sits in limbo in a US military base.
“If my wife goes back, they (the Taliban) will just execute her and her family,” said Roufi, who retired from the US Army in 2022.
The active-duty 82nd Airborne soldier said he harbors similar fears, adding that his sister and her husband have been threatened with kidnapping by people who think they are rich because the rest of the family escaped to the US in the 2021 evacuation.
“She has no other family members (in Afghanistan) besides her husband,” he said.
Trump’s order has ignited fears that he could halt other resettlement programs, including those that award special immigration visas to Afghans and Iraqis who worked for the US government, said Kim Staffieri, executive director of the Association of Wartime Allies, a group that helps Afghans and Iraqis resettle in the United States.
“They’re all terrified. The level of anxiety we are getting from them, in many ways, feels like the lead-up to August 2021,” she said, referring to the panic that prompted thousands of Afghans to storm Kabul airport hoping to board evacuation flights.
Another Afghan American, who caught a flight with the US troops for whom he translated and joined the Texas National Guard after obtaining his green card, said his parents, two sisters, his brother and his brother’s family had been scheduled to fly to the US within the next month. He had found accommodations for them in Dallas.
“I cannot express in words how I feel,” said the Afghan American who asked his name be withheld out of fear for his family’s safety. “I don’t feel good since yesterday. I cannot eat. I cannot sleep.”
African Union ‘dismayed’ US withdrawing from WHO
- AU’s Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said he was “dismayed to learn of the US government’s announcement to withdraw” from WHO
- Trump has repeatedly criticized the WHO over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic
ADDIS ABABA: The African Union expressed dismay Wednesday over President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, urging his administration to reconsider.
Just hours after taking office on Monday, Trump signed an executive order directing the US to withdraw from the UN agency, which threatens to leave global health initiatives short of funding.
African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said in a statement he was “dismayed to learn of the US government’s announcement to withdraw” from the Geneva-based WHO.
Washington is easily the biggest financial contributor to the organization and the pullout comes as Africa faces a range of health crises, including recent outbreaks of mpox and Marburg viruses.
“Now more than ever, the world depends on WHO to carry out its mandate to ensure global public health security as a shared common good,” Moussa Faki said, adding he hopes “the US government will reconsider its decision.”
He said Washington was an early supporter of the Africa CDC, the African Union’s health watchdog which works with the WHO to counter present and emerging pandemics.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the WHO over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and said prior to his inauguration that “World Health ripped us off.”
The United States was in the process of withdrawing from the WHO during Trump’s first term, but the move was reversed under Joe Biden.
Tom Frieden, a former US senior health official, wrote on X that the withdrawal “weakens America’s influence, increases the risk of a deadly pandemic, and makes all of us less safe.”
It comes as fears grow of the pandemic potential of a bird flu outbreak, which has infected dozens and claimed its first human life in the United States earlier this month.
WHO member states have been negotiating the world’s first treaty on handling future pandemics since late 2021 — negotiations now set to proceed without the US.
In Itaewon, Seoul’s Korean Muslim minority finds a sense of belonging
- Muslims make up only around 0.3 percent of South Korea’s 51 million population
- Seoul Central Mosque in Itaewon is South Korea’s first and largest
SEOUL: Tucked away behind the main avenue of Seoul’s central Itaewon district, the signs along “Muslim Street” — which features the Korean alphabet Hangul and Arabic script side by side — is the first giveaway of the neighborhood’s soul.
A little walk up the street, visitors would then find the Seoul Central Mosque — the country’s first and largest — that for decades has served as a beating heart for South Korea’s minority Muslim community.
“Korean Muslims are one of the smallest minority groups in Korea … In Itaewon, no one thinks I am weird when I tell them I am Muslim, or when I pray at the mosque or dress in Arab clothes. It gives me a sense of tranquility. And it also satisfies a big portion of the loneliness I feel as a Muslim,” Eom Min-a, a 35-year-old government official, told Arab News.
“When I meet friends in Itaewon, or when I pray in the mosque with other Muslims, I feel that I am not alone in this country. That makes me keep wanting to go there.”
In South Korea, Muslims make up only around 0.3 percent of the country’s 51 million population, according to the Korea Muslim Federation. Migrant workers from Muslim countries make up the bulk of the Korean Muslim community, as around 70 percent of them are foreigners.
For Koreans like Eom, being Muslim is often a lonely and alienating experience. She deals with microaggressions from time to time and often feels excluded from the larger society.
But whenever she visits Itaewon, she feels liberated. It is also the place where she meets her Muslim friends — most of whom are foreigners — and eats Arab food.
“When you go to Itaewon, you can see the mosque on top of the neighborhood’s highest hill. You feel a sense of pride,” she said. “I feel liberated and I find a lot of emotional comfort there.”
Though small, the growth of the Muslim community in Korea is often traced back to when the Seoul Central Mosque was built in 1976, with funding from Saudi Arabia.
Since then, Muslims in and around Seoul have visited the mosque in Itaewon especially to get together and celebrate the main holidays in Islam, Eid Al-Adha and Eid Al-Fitr.
“Before my child was born, I would go to the central mosque in Itaewon during Ramadan or Eid and participate in the prayers,” business owner Kim Jin-woo told Arab News.
“From our point of view as Muslims, the neighborhood and the Central Mosque feel like home … In our heart, it is a place like home.”
Kim’s visits to Itaewon are also related to household needs at times, including buying halal or Arab ingredients. From dates to homemade hummus to falafel, the shop Kim goes to carries more Arab products than Korean ones.
“My family also goes to Itaewon to shop for groceries. My wife mostly cooks Moroccan food at home, and the shopping center there has a large assortment of Arab groceries and halal meat,” he said.
Over the years, Seoul’s Muslim neighborhood has grown into a beacon of diversity and peaceful coexistence even for other Itaewon residents, including for 83-year-old Kim C., a non-Muslim who has run a shop in the area for over 40 years.
“I have hired foreign Muslim employees myself. They are genuine people,” Kim told Arab News. “They are no different from my other neighbors.”
200,000 intl troops needed to secure any Ukraine peace: Zelensky
- Zelensky said that given the small size of the Ukrainian army compared to that of Russia, “we need contingents with a very strong number of soldiers” to secure any peace deal
- “From all the Europeans? Two hundred thousand. It’s a minimum. Otherwise, it’s nothing“
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said any peace deal agreed with Russia would require at least 200,000 European peacekeepers to oversee it, according to comments published Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House has raised the spectre of some kind of halt in the fighting after he vowed to end the war — though he has never explained how.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos a day earlier, Zelensky said any deal to end the conflict would need to be overseen by a large foreign contingent of peacekeepers.
Zelensky said that given the small size of the Ukrainian army compared to that of Russia, “we need contingents with a very strong number of soldiers” to secure any peace deal.
“From all the Europeans? Two hundred thousand. It’s a minimum. Otherwise, it’s nothing,” he said.
He said any other arrangement would be akin to the monitoring mission led by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in eastern Ukraine that disintegrated when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
“They had offices and that’s all,” Zelensky said, underscoring the need from the Ukrainian perspective for an armed force to prevent further Russian attacks.
The Ukrainian leader has repeatedly said that Ukraine must be represented at any talks with international parties to end the conflict and that only robust security guarantees can dissuade Russia from attacking again.
Ukraine’s fear that Moscow would use a truce to rebuild its military stems partially from the decade that followed peace agreements between Kremlin-backed separatists and Kyiv in 2014 which failed to halt Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
In an earlier address at Davos, Zelensky called on Europe to establish a joint defense policy and said European capitals should be prepared to increase spending, while calling into question Trump’s commitment to NATO, the US-led security bloc.
Trump on Tuesday indicated he would consider imposing fresh sanctions on Russia if President Vladimir Putin refuses to negotiate a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Afghan suspect arrested after two killed in knife attack in German park
- The Afghan suspect was detained at the scene in Schoental park
- A 41-year old man and a two-year old boy were fatally injured, police said
BERLIN: A 28-year-old man from Afghanistan has been arrested following a knife attack in a park in the German city of Aschaffenburg on Wednesday in which two people were killed, including a toddler, police said.
The suspect was detained at the scene in Schoental park, an English-style garden in the Bavarian city, where the attack occurred at around 1045 GMT.
A 41-year old man and a two-year old boy were fatally injured, police said in a post on social media platform X. Two seriously injured people were receiving hospital treatment.
Police said there was no indication of further suspects and no danger to the public.
The stabbing adds to a string of violent attacks in Germany that have raised concerns over security and stirred up tensions over migration ahead of parliamentary elections on Feb. 23.
A doctor was arrested after a car-ramming attack at a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg on Dec. 20, in which six people were killed and around 200 injured.
